THE GREAT MISSISSIPPI FLOOD OF 1927
Photograph from Acme News Pictures
AN UNSUNG HERO OF THE FLOODS
The man in the river is a diver. When it was decided to dynamite the levee below New
Orleans to spare that city from the perils of rising water, he went down into the dark, muddy
waters of the Mississippi to lay the charges (see text, pages 273 and 285).
Tens of thousands might have died;
it was feared they would, but from that
very fear came nation-wide action. Over
night, almost, the great flood; and how
to save the people in its path became
America's job. The President urged it;
the flood-relief group, manned from his
Cabinet, directed the monumental task;
every needed Federal force was united.
Thousands of citizens volunteered with
money, railroads, and ships.
What with radio, telephones, airplanes,
trains, and boats, all grouped and guided
by the Red Cross, imperiled populations
in cities, counties, and whole sections of
river States were saved from drowning.
In all the history of organized effort to
save human life, it is doubtful if ever
there was a struggle like this-or such
a successful one.
When this appalling disaster broke, the
American Red Cross moved swiftly.
Acting for President Coolidge, the Secre
tary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover, set
up at Memphis a special Flood Relief
Headquarters. Here came quickly the
key men of the Red Cross staff from all
over the Union. To work in liaison,
there came also officers of the Army,
Navy, Public Health Service, Coast
Guard, Department of Agriculture, Vet
erans' Bureau, and the railroads which
serve the flooded area. Altogether, this
is the most effective relief force ever put
afield in America, barring the days of the
World War.
In each region where flood threatened,
prominent men and women, capable of
leadership, dropped all personal affairs
and volunteered for service with local
chapters of the Red Cross.
WARNING SAVED THOUSANDS OF LIVES
With wires, radio, scout planes, speed
boats, and motor cars where roads were
still open, an amazingly efficient intelli
gence service was swiftly set up. Aided
by Weather Bureau predictions of the
flood's advance, there was time to warn
towns, cities, and even whole counties of
impending peril. Tens and tens of thou
sands, saved by such warnings, fled from
the lowlands.
They fled as the Children of Israel
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